Intelligent method for tuning H 2 PID controller of water hydraulic manipulator of CFETR blanket maintenances

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate an intelligent control for water hydraulic position servo system which is intent to be used in remote control robot for fusion reactor. The dynamic model of water hydraulic servo control system is built and proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controller is used. Design/methodology/approach – PID control is the most common control algorithm used in industry and has been a conventional tool used to operate closed-loop control system; however, it is very difficult to achieve high accuracy and fast response by using the traditional way to tune its perimeters. To improve the control performance, optimization algorithm can be applied to search the best parameters of PID. This paper presents a search algorithm using particle swarm with H 2 control standards objective function to optimize PID parameters. Findings – By comparing simulation and mock-up experiments’ results from different control methods, the particle swarm optimization algorithm presents better performance and is more effective for tuning PID parameters. Originality/value – This paper presents an effective way to ensure safety and efficiency for remote handling maintenances of China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor.